Metallica’s Lars Ulrich: ‘I Hope We Go On Making Records Until the Day We Fall Over’

It may take a few more years between albums for Metallica these days, but according to drummer Lars Ulrich, they should be able to keep making music for a long time.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ulrich says, "The only unknown is the physical element of it. If the arms and legs and knees and shoulders and throats and all that stuff, the backs, the necks, if all that stays intact, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to do this for a significant amount of time longer."

Metallica's latest album Hardwired...To Self Destructwill be released in November, and is the band's first studio release since 2008's Death Magnetic.

As to the sound of the new material, Ulrich reveals, "I think maybe this one is a little punkier in places and maybe slightly less progressive. It's about the riffs and a bit more groove-oriented. One thing there's not is the big Metallica ballad. It's all pretty uppity."

It looks like there will be more albums to come after that one. "I hope we go on making records until the day we fall over," Ulrich says. "That's what certainly inspires you and gives you a sense of still being in the game. I certainly respect peers of ours that feel different, but feeling we've still got something to say is an important part of feeling vital, feeling confident and feeling good about yourself."

It has been a few years since the band has done a full North American arena tour, but Ulrich says to look for them to start touring in January, and for there to "definitely be some pretty extensive touring in America."